Monument Valley 3 is truly a very special and beautiful game to experience. The aesthetic look of the game is truly outstanding and reminds very much of games like Journey for the PlayStation 3. Monument Valley 3 has finally arrived to the PlayStation 5. It’s a puzzle game with breathtaking visuals but is worth your time? How are the puzzles and is this a game that you can just boot up and turn your brain off and just relax? I believe it is. Here is the review of Monument Valley 3.
Beautiful Visuals
Monument Valley 3’s visuals are the strongest point of the game. Everything is incredibly detailed, from the characters to the world design. Looking out at the cast ocean is something you will do when you start playing the game. The sun shining while the nearby lighthouse lights up the area. It truly is captivating and will keep players in awe before they even start playing the levels. Monument Valley 3’s levels are brilliant as well. Buildings and platforms lead to multiple areas that need to be accessed by Noor, the playable character. Some of the levels have the most trippiest visuals I have ever seen in a video game. One of my favourite levels in the game has you go through an Inverted Palace. The moving of the palace and its interiors and exteriors is wild, creating a confusing but amazing visual masterpiece full of colours.
The game isn’t afraid to give players a lot of these moments as they progress through the levels. You can move other objects like flowers that you can grow and each leaf helps you to the next area of the puzzle. It is magical and Monument Valley 3 plays to what it knows is its biggest strengths. Developer Ustwo did a fantastic job here. There’s even a boat which you can sail around on in certain levels. I found the controls clunky at times but it’s not a main gameplay mechanic and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Soothing Music
Another strong part of Monument Valley 3 is its audio and music. The soundtrack here is amazing and a treat to listen to. Monument Valley 3’s music does a great job at presenting the type of stunning world it is trying to showcase. It is calm, soothing and never too loud or obnoxious. The whole soundtrack is just a time for the player to chill while they guide Noor on her journey and solving multiple puzzles as they progress.
A Puzzle Adventure
The main gameplay of Monument Valley 3 is its puzzles. It is pretty straight-forward. Players control Noor who must save the lighthouse that is keeping all the boats in their world safe at sea. The light is slowly dying and Noor must solve puzzles to retrieve the lights needed to make sure the light never dies. A nice, simple plot to follow. Each level has players guiding Noor through levels. Players do this by clicking where they want her to go, whether its climbing ladders or following the correct path to reach a height out of her reach. You can move platforms up and down, side to side with Noor on them.
Paths can be twisted to try and get Noor on a side path that can be only accessed if players twist it the right way. This is where the trippy part of the game comes into play. A lot of the puzzles were surprisingly easy though. That’s not to say they aren’t any brain stumpers in Monument Valley 3 but a lot of them seem very vanilla compared to others. When you solve the more difficult puzzles in the game it feels great. You earned the right to show off your high IQ. But unfortunately I found some a bit easy. Also the levels are short. Like really short. You can finish some of them in under ten minutes. There are only ten levels available in Monument Valley 3. The game only takes about two hours to finish and you can even platinum the game in that time too.
A Story That Doesn’t Hit
The story isn’t emotional or too engaging either. Noor meets other characters on her journey but because the game is so short, it’s hard to connect with them or the emotions that the game is going for. Monument Valley 3 needed more content and more is coming soon. Just a shame that when the game gets going, the credits start to roll. The story is simple and is good overall but it just might not connect with a lot of players, especially the characters. If the game was a bit longer, the story would have been stronger.
Verdict
Monument Valley 3 is a good game. It has fantastic visuals and a brilliant, soothing soundtrack. The characters look great and the world is just breathing taking to look at. The gameplay and puzzle solving is good but some are a bit easy and fast to get through. Some of the harder puzzles are head scratchers but are satisfying to solve, unfortunately there aren’t many of them. Noor and her journey is good but way too short to fully appreciate or connect with. Where this game is now though, it can be hard to fully recommend. Monument Valley 3 can be finished in just two hours. It needs more content and there is more to come according to the end credits. Overall, a good beautiful game but too little to experience.
